MYTHS OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA

 

Table of Contents

	Preface
	Introduction
I	The Races and Early Civilization of Babylonia
II	The Land of Rivers and the God of the Deep
III	Rival Pantheons and Representative Deities
IV	Demons, Fairies, and Ghosts
V	Myths of Tammuz and Ishtar
VI	Wars of the City States of Sumer and Akkad
VII	Creation Legend: Merodach the Dragon Slayer
VIII	Deified Heroes: Etana and Gilgamesh
IX	Deluge Legend, the Island of the Blessed, and Hades
X	Buildings and Laws and Customs of Babylon
XI	The Golden Age of Babylonia
XII	Rise of the Hittites, Mitannians, Kassites, Hyksos, and Assyrians
XIII	Astrology and Astronomy
XIV	Ashur the National God of Assyria
XV	Conflicts for Trade and Supremacy
XVI	Race Movements that Shattered Empires
XVII	The Hebrews in Assyrian History
XVIII	The Age of Semiramis
XIX	Assyria's Age of Splendour
XX	The Last Days of Assyria and Babylonia
	Index

List of Figures

1.	TEMPTATION OF THE EA-BANI
2.	BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA
I.1.	EXAMPLES OF RACIAL TYPES
I.2.	STATUE OF A ROYAL PERSONAGE OR OFFICIAL OF NON-SEMITIC ORIGIN
III.1.	WORSHIP OF THE MOON GOD
III.2.	WINGED MAN-HEADED LION
IV.1.	TWO FIGURES OF DEMONS
IV.2.	WINGED HUMAN-HEADED COW (?)
V.1.	ISHTAR IN HADES
V.2.	Female figure in adoration before a goddess
V.3.	The winged Ishtar above the rising sun god, the river god, and other deities
V.4.	Gilgamesh in conflict with bulls (see page 176)
V.5.	PLAQUE OF UR-NINA
VI.1.	SILVER VASE DEDICATED TO THE GOD NIN-GIRSU BY ENTEMENA
VI.2.	STELE OF NARAM SIN
VII.1.	STATUE OF GUDEA
VII.2.	"THE SEVEN TABLETS OF CREATION"
VII.3.	MERODACH SETS FORTH TO ATTACK TIAMAT
VIII.1.	THE SLAYING OF THE BULL OF ISHTAR
IX.1.	THE BABYLONIAN DELUGE
IX.2.	SLIPPER-SHAPED COFFIN MADE OF GLAZED EARTHENWARE
IX.3.	STELE OF HAMMURABI, WITH "CODE OF LAWS"
X.1.	THE BABYLONIAN MARRIAGE MARKET
XI.1.	HAMMURABI RECEIVING THE "CODE OF LAWS" FROM THE SUN GOD
XI.2.	THE HORSE IN WARFARE
XII.1.	LETTER FROM TUSHRATTA, KING OF MITANNI, TO AMENHOTEP III, KING OF EGYPT
XII.2.	THE GOD NINIP AND ANOTHER DEITY
XIII.1.	SYMBOLS OF DEITIES AS ASTRONOMICAL SIGNS
XIII.2.	ASHUR SYMBOLS
XIV.1.	WINGED DEITIES KNEELING BESIDE A SACRED TREE
XIV.2.	EAGLE-HEADED WINGED DEITY (ASHUR)
XVI.1.	ASSYRIAN KING HUNTING LIONS
XVI.2.	TYRIAN GALLEY PUTTING OUT TO SEA
XVII.1.	STATUE OF ASHUR-NATSIR-PAL, WITH INSCRIPTIONS
XVII.2.	DETAILS FROM SECOND SIDE OF BLACK OBELISK OF SHALMANESER III
XVIII.1.	THE SHEPHERD FINDS THE BABE SEMIRAMIS
XIX.1.	STATUE OF NEBO
XIX.2.	TIGLATH-PLESSER IV IN HIS CHARIOT
XIX.3.	COLOSSAL WINGED AND HUMAN-HEADED BULL AND MYTHOLOGICAL BEING
XIX.4.	ASSAULT ON THE CITY OF ALAMMU (? JERUSALEM) BY THE ASSYRIANS UNDER SENNACHERIB
XX.1.	ASHUR-BANI-PAL RECLINING IN A BOWER
XX.2.	PERSIANS BRINGING CHARIOTS, RINGS, AND WREATHS

 

hattusas

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"The origin of the Sumerians is unknown. The intriguing question keeps returning into the literature but has so far unsatisfactory answers. The Sumerians were not the first people in Mesopotamia. They were not present before 4000 BCE, while before that time village communities existed with a high degree of organization. The ''principle of agriculture'' was not discovered by the Sumerians. This is evident from words the Sumerians use for items in relation to the domestication of plants and animals.

Substrate Languages
A language (in particular as it appears in proper names and geographical names) may show signs of so called substrate languages (like the influence of Celtic on ancient Gaul; compare some Indian geographical names in the US attesting the original inhabitants). Some professional names and agricultural implements in Sumerian show that agriculture and the economic use of metals existed before the arrival of the Sumerians.

Sumerian words with a pre-Sumerian origin are:
professional names such as simug 'blacksmith' and tibira 'copper smith', 'metal-manufacturer' are not in origin Sumerian words.
Agricultural terms, like engar 'farmer', apin 'plow' and absin 'furrow', are neither of Sumerian origin.
Craftsman like nangar 'carpenter', agab 'leather worker'
Religious terms like sanga 'priest'
Some of the most ancient cities, like Kish, have names that are not Sumerian in origin.
These words must have been loan words from a substrate language. The words show how far the division in labor had progressed even before the Sumerians arrived."
(http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~dee/meso/meso.htm - No longer available)

"Soon after 8,000 BC sedentary communities and domestic plants and animals began to appear in many areas of South-west Asia. These domesticates and allied agricultural economies were to prove both successful and adaptable to the extent that within centuries of their first appearance they had spread far outside the Fertile Crescent. By 7,000 BC farmers in Greek Thessaly were subsisting on cultivated emmerwheat and barley as well as domestic cattle and pigs."

Ohalo II
Israel Sea of Galilee"When the sea level fell dramatically in the sea of Galilee ten years ago [1994] the modern calamity revealed an archaeological treasure: the camp of Stone Age fishermen and hunters, abandoned nearly 20,000 years ago.
     In the last decade, falling water levels have allowed Dani Nadel of the University of Haifa in Israel to excavate at the camp five times. It is emerging as perhaps the best preserved Upper Paleolithic dwelling site found anywhere in the world. (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2001/01/0102galilee.html)



The calibrated date is 21,500 BC and the site is similar to the Natufian culture. Although this is not a pre-city it is the earliest settlement so far known. Grains were found suggesting the earliest attempt at agriculture. Extremely remarkable as it would be about another nine thousand years before the Natufian culture started farming. As you can see it is presently under water.